1. Technical Field
The present invention relates generally to folding knives and processes for manufacturing knives, and more specifically to a folding knife incorporating a source of selectively operable illumination.
2. Related Art
Many different types of folding knives are available. Exemplary knives provided with lighting fixtures may be found in such references as U.S. Pat. No. 4,364,104 to Holahan et al., entitled NOVELTYLIGHT, issued on Dec. 14, 1982; U.S. Pat. No. 5,313,376 to McIntosh, entitled MULTIPURPOSEKNIFE/LIGHT, issued on May 17, 1994; U.S. Pat. No. 5,467,256 to Chen, entitled KNIFE WITH LIGHTING FIXTURE, issued on Nov. 14, 1995; U.S. Pat. No. 5,727,319 to Myerchin et al., entitled KNIFE WITH ILLUMINATED BLADE, issued on Mar. 17, 1998; U.S. Pat. No. 4,751,621 to Jenkins, entitled LIGHT KNIFE, issued on Jun. 14, 1988; U.S. Pat. No. 6,434,829 to Chen, entitled KNIFE HAVING A WARNING STRUCTURE, issued on Aug. 20, 2002; and U.S. Pat. No. 5,474,452 to Campagnuolo, entitled TRAINING SIMULATION SYSTEM FOR INDIRECT FIRE WEAPONS SUCH AS MORTARS AND ARTILLERY, issued on Dec. 12, 1995. Some of these knives provide light when a button is pressed, or when the blade is folded open. No knife is currently available that allows the user to choose to operate the flashlight with the knife unfolded, with the knife folded or for automatic illumination when the knife is unfolded.